Family businesses have long been the backbone of the UK economy. But there are both specific challenges when growing a family-owned organisation. Whether it’s distinguishing the company brand from the founder’s personality, positioning the firm to embrace new opportunities, or achieving smooth succession, there are specific issues that Mobas frequently helps family firms face.
Director of Strategy Shelby Haslam explains more.
There are some 4.8 million family businesses currently operating across sectors and regions in the UK, creating 13.9 million jobs* and generating £1.7 trillion in turnover*. Their contribution to the economy is significant: large family businesses contributed around £38 billion in taxation in 2020*.
Creating a business that can be passed on to children and grandchildren is a dream for many. Family firms offer a compelling mix of authenticity, heritage and long-term thinking that can be a powerful business driver and a valuable differentiator in branding.
Yet, there are challenges. Both internally with staff and externally with customers, being a family business may bring real or perceived issues.
Family-run businesses are built on deep-rooted values, but this foundation can sometimes lead to challenges in growth and innovation. Thanks to their parental/guardianship role, an established management team may be resistant to change, less able to see the customer’s perspective, or present difficulties in leadership transitions.
So, how can your family business strategically leverage all its many strengths while mitigating any potential issues? We have worked with a wide range of family-owned businesses at different stages of their corporate growth and here are some suggestions.
Brands and businesses should outlast any one individual and building a brand that embraces all the rich personality of the family but stands proudly individually is critical. Our approach ensures that we capture all the values that a brand has – from the point of view of the family owners – but critically from the team and customers too. That provides our long-lasting platform.
We then harness all the rich benefits that family ownership bring to make the brand distinctive and to align it with future market needs. This can turn family legacy into a powerful, unique brand asset.
A rich legacy offers a strong foundation for brand storytelling. Customers trust authentic businesses that have been around for generations, associating them with reliability and experience. They add human depth to the brand, making it relatable and enduring.
Many family businesses thrive on personal relationships with their customers, building loyalty through direct service and deep community ties. This can be reflected in a well-executed brand and through marketing strategy.
With a flat structure and fewer bureaucratic hurdles, decisions can be made swiftly – an advantage over larger corporations weighed down by hierarchy. This can again be captured as a competitive advantage.
Family businesses tend to plan for decades rather than financial quarters, prioritizing sustainable growth and enduring brand equity. Customers and partners may appreciate this approach over competitors who are focused only on the current transaction.
But we are mindful that tradition and a high degree of personal investment (emotion more than money) can be a double-edged sword.
While heritage is valuable, it can also make businesses slow to adapt to new trends or technologies. This occasional unwillingness to modernise can result in outdated messaging that fails to connect with younger consumers. Blurred boundaries – overlap between personal and professional life can lead to emotional decision-making, conflicts, and inefficiencies.
Our outside-in approach can mitigate this. Bringing the voice of the customer firmly into discussions around brand and marketing helps to support new thinking and eases concerns over changes that see the brand realigning itself with new audiences and as yet unmet needs.
We test and test again, providing reassurance at every stage and supporting the management team in taking bold but confident decisions.
And the results when balance between tradition and innovation is found? An agency like Mobas can be instrumental in helping family businesses maximise their brand potential while overcoming obstacles.
Modernising the brand while respecting tradition: refreshing branding and messaging to align with contemporary markets without losing the company’s core values.
Bringing strategic clarity to a previously internally-focused decision-making processes, creating consistency in branding and customer engagement.
We can help a business transform its internal legacy into engaging narratives that attract new customer bases and enhance market appeal. Position marketing as a tool to align differing perspectives within the family, ensuring a cohesive brand strategy.
And we fold this work internally as much as externally, giving the whole team pride in being a part of something that is much more important than ‘just’ a business, that carries a family’s past, present and future.
Family businesses are not a ‘one-size-fits-all' – some are deeply traditional, while others are eager to carve out a new space. Understanding where a business sits on this spectrum is key to shaping an effective, and impactful marketing approach.
By leveraging their heritage while embracing modern strategies, family-run companies can secure their place in the market for generations to come.